


Heads or tails?

by ChocoNut



Series: Modern JB love [49]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Jealous Jaime Lannister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26527171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocoNut/pseuds/ChocoNut
Summary: Four times Jaime flips a coin and the one time he doesn't.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Series: Modern JB love [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557871
Comments: 20
Kudos: 89





	Heads or tails?

“I can’t believe we chose an amusement park out of all the places we could’ve been to,” Sansa grumbled, stopping meters away from a ride that looked like it was going to challenge their breakfast. “This is an office day out not a school trip. We could’ve been to a resort, a beach, a—”

“C’mon.” Jon wrapped an encouraging arm around her shoulders. “It’s not going to be that bad.”

“Yeah,” Brienne chimed in, excited, eyeing the ominous looking thing which seemed to have tentacled arms moving in impossible directions. “I bet it’s gonna be—”

“—thrilling, fantastic,” Jaime butted in, her enthusiasm seeping into him. Sharing such a hair-raising experience with his best friend was certainly a moment to look forward to. “Sit with me, wench.”

“She’s sitting with me,” Renly cut him in a flash before Brienne could answer. “I asked her first.”

“This isn’t some first-come-first-served thing,” Jaime objected, disappointment beginning to weigh him down. In his heart of hearts he knew she would favour the pretty boy. He had been sharp enough to notice she was enamoured by him. When Renly refused to budge from his stand, he decided to adopt a different trick. “Let’s flip a coin.” He pulled out his favourite coin and readied himself for the battle of luck. “Heads, she comes with me, tails, she’s all yours.” He looked into Renly’s eye, hoping, waiting for him to fall for the bait.

“Go on,” Renly grudgingly agreed, his eyes silently cursing him.

Jaime tossed the coin into the air, and once it landed, stooped to check the result. “Heads,” he triumphantly announced, scooping up the coin and tucking it safely back into his pocket. “She’s with me.”

Renly glared daggers at him. “Only because luck happened to favour you.”

“Oh it does.” Jaime happily accompanied Brienne to the queue. “Luck does happen to hold my hand at times.”

+++++

“Before you say anything, she’s on my team,” Jaime proactively snapped at the pretty boy.

“Didn’t you tell me last time that this isn’t something to be decided on a first-come-first-served basis?” Renly rallied back, refusing to surrender without a fight. 

Jaime bit back an angry retort. This was going to be far from smooth. Even before they’d played the first match, he was beginning to feel the inevitable rivalry between them—only, it lacked the sportsman spirit that usually came with such exchanges between opposing captains.

Thankfully, Brienne wasn’t around to witness this scene.

“You just want her on your side because you think she fancies you,” he attacked his adversary, irked more by the thought of his best friend mooning over the man who had only recently entered their acquaintance over the one she’d known for years. “You—”

“I want her on my side because she’s the best we have.” Renly appeared to have come here with a resolve not to give up this time. “Since we’re both unwilling to relent, why don’t we go for an unbiased _someone_ who can settle the dispute?”

“An unbiased _something_ is just what I have here,” Jaime muttered, then fished out his coin. “Heads, I win,” he cried, flinging it into the air. “And heads, it is,” he gloated, shoving the coin back to its place.

Renly screwed his brows in suspicion. “How did you—”

“Let’s just say luck happens to favour me when it matters.”

+++++ 

“Hey, I can get hold of tickets for tonight’s premiere,” Renly boasted, just as Jaime was about to reveal his grand birthday gift for his friend. “Why don’t you and I spend the evening together and round it up with dinner someplace nice?”

Brienne’s face lit up for a moment, but then, deflated when she put on an apologetic smile. “I’d love to, but—”

“I knew you wouldn’t be interested in petty movies,” Jaime jumped in, cashing in on her reluctance. “That’s why—” he dug out his phone and pulled out an app “—I was researching something else.” He held the screen up for her to read. “I can arrange for two tickets for this evening’s fencing tournament final,” he announced, reading her eyes for a reaction. “I know how much you like the sport, wench, and that’s why—”

“It’s not some petty movie!” Renly interjected, sounding thoroughly insulted. “It’s a far better option than—”

“Heads, it’s fencing, tails, it’s your sappy movie,” Jaime suggested, the coin mid-air before even Renly could respond. “And I win again—”

“This isn’t fair—”

“Oh, but it is,” Jaime said, more malevolently than he’d intended. “Probability theory, you see—fifty-fifty chance—” He paused when an admonishing inner voice started pelting him with dos and don’ts, but quickly brushing it aside, he went on, “Lady luck continues to favour me—” 

“Guys—” Brienne stepped in between them “—I hate to disappoint you, but I’ve already made plans with the girls,” she told them both apologetically. “We’re going shopping and Sansa’s going to be mad if I cancel.” She glanced at both the men before adding, “And, it isn’t really fair.”

The little bubble inside him burst, and Jaime stood there, nursing more than just disappointment.

“I love you both for coming up with such brilliant ideas,” she tried to pacify them. “But I really really am sorry, okay? Maybe another time?” 

Nodding, they both let go, each sensing the other’s hollowness.

“I still won,” Jaime muttered to Renly as soon as Brienne had left, intending for the other man’s resentment to flare up and explode.

+++++

“Join me for a dance,” Renly shouted over the blaring music, holding out his hand to Brienne just as Jaime was about to do the same.

“Oh, not again,” Jaime grumbled, fed up of continuously competing with this handsome cunt for her attention. That she had developed more than a soft corner for him did worse for his confidence every time he thought of stepping past the friend zone. That she’d been looking at him all evening like he was the most beautiful creature on earth had his blood boiling and the crooked corners of his mind devising means to put him down. “I was about to ask her,” he said, his tone fairly mellow given the intensity of his inner turmoil.

“But I—” Renly took her hand “—already _did_ ask her. Come on, Brienne—”

“Not so easily.” Jaime looked down at their hands, struggling hard not to let that affect him. “Let the coin decide, shall we?” And without waiting for his rival’s consent, he fished out their usual mediator and flipped it in the air. “I call heads, as usual, and—”

“Let me guess,” Renly dryly cut in, eyes bearing something far greater than dislike. “It’s heads again.”

Jaime approached the wench. “I win, Brienne.”

Brienne, however, let go of Renly's hand, looking far from impressed with the whole show. “Enough of this coin tossing thing, Jaime,” she scolded, voice quivering, though she appeared outwardly calm. “I’m done with this. I’m going home.”

Jaime looked on as she huffed away in a hurry. For some reason she seemed angrier with him than with Renly. And there had to be only one reason for that—she was beginning to develop an intolerance for his childish interventions.

With a heavy heart, Jaime backed away slowly from the dance floor, his newest realization crippling his senses.

She had fallen in love with Renly. 

+++++ 

“There you are, Jaime,” came an angry voice from behind him. “Should I even forgive you for ignoring my calls?”

Jolted out of his solitude, he turned to meet his unexpected guest. “I—” he stalled, not knowing what excuse to give her. “I wanted some time for myself,” he mumbled, then went back to gazing at the next wave that lapped up the rocks. 

Brienne fell in line with him. “Since the party last night you’ve been—”

“Hey, you were the one who stormed out of there,” he lashed out, still hurt that he’d lost to Renly where it counted the most. He had been wrong all along. Luck had never really been on his side, only _pretending_ to oblige him, fooling him.

“I’m not the one hiding from my friends, Jaime.”

“I’m not hiding. I come here often.” He recalled the countless times he'd compared her eyes to the blue waters, the numerous instances he’d come here to seek answers to the questions muddling his mind. “I like watching the sunset,” he mused, admiring the pinkish glow around them. “Brings me peace.”

“It’s a lovely place.”

“Surely you haven’t come all the way to admire this beach, wench. Nor are you here to simply give me an earful.” He caught her gaze, searching all he could for what he wanted to see in them. He had been sharp enough to note the distress in her tone when she’d pounced on him for absconding. “Why aren’t you with Renly?”

Her counter-question was supported by the confusion in her eyes, the slight narrowing of them. “Why would I be with him?” 

He decided to tread cautiously. “After the party yesterday, I thought—”

“Give me your lucky coin, Jaime,” she demanded out of the blue, the nature of her ask stunning him.

“But—”

“ _Please._ ”

With a deep breath, he handed it to her. Her eyes deeply set into his, she rolled it over in her palm. “Let’s see—” he could make out the slight tremor in her voice again “—heads, you’re going to ask me out, and—”

“Wait—what?”

“—tails, well—” she sighed, then straightened “we’ll deal with it _if_ it gets to that.”

“Brienne,” he started weakly, marveling her straightforwardness. “Does this mean—” 

Before he could finish, she flipped the coin without even looking at it, and with it, tossing his heart out of its place, into the air. “There—” she bent, once it had struck the ground, lying half-buried in the sand, waiting for her to seek the result. “Heads, it is,” she whispered, picking it up. “I win, Jaime.”

And Jaime couldn’t hold back any longer.

“It’s fake,” he confessed, at last, not wanting to keep up this petty trick any more. “Turn it over and see, it—”

“—has heads engraved on both the sides.” She thrust the coin into his hand without even the slightest examination. “I know,” she answered his stunned reaction. “I noted it the first time you used it against Renly.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you let me carry on cheating—”

“I wanted to be with you.” A blush as radiant as the sky above took over her cheeks. “I wanted you to win, to—I thought someday you might tell me, come out with your feelings—” sniffing, she drew to a halt. 

“Then why did you refuse to dance with me?” he asked, baffled by the aloofness she’d shown last night. “I asked you and you walked away—”

“I was upset because of the toss,” she revealed, lips trembling. “Because, instead of simply asking me out, you took to resorting to this silly little game. It was becoming an unhealthy habit, more of a personal battle between you two, each trying to put the other down. I thought, at first, it was about me, but then—”

“It was _always_ about you, wench.” Guilt swooping down to grab him for what he’d done—or _not done_ , he drew her into his arms. “I couldn’t stand the thought of Renly winning you over, which is why I stooped to this—”

“Why didn’t you just say it and spare us this agony?”

“I thought you were in love with him.” He reached out to touch her face, gentle fingertips stroking her shivering lips. “And last evening, when you burst out at the party, I thought you wanted me out of the way. That’s why I—”

“You’re an idiot, Jaime.” She peppered his fingers with tender kisses. “The biggest idiot in this world.”

“I can be, at times,” he softly concurred. “And I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.” He let his hand float down her neck, his senses soaking in every bit of her. He wanted to stay like this—no more words, nothing, just lost in her, but one last thing still puzzled him. “You say you weren’t too certain of my feelings. So what drove you in search of me now?”

“I decided to take a chance,” she murmured, their lips meeting for a short, tentative kiss before she pulled back to speak again. “And luck just happened to favour me when it mattered the most.”

Arms tightening around her in an embrace, Jaime drew her in for a deeper kiss, this time, the fire within them, their pent up desire fueling their need to be together. Their lips and tongue in perfect harmony, they fit together like they’d been doing this for ages, like they were made for showering each other with affection and passion. 

“My place?” he panted, when they reluctantly paused for air. “Let me make it up to you tonight for all my silliness.”

Brienne nodded, her face the colour of the crimson sun.

Jaime took her hand and led her out of there, and as they walked away, he let the coin roll off his fingers and drop to the sand. Swept away by the waves, it would be lost forever. And he wanted it gone. He had no need for it anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
